29 Years Ago, Buffy Changed Everything About the Series With a Surprising Death

It has been 29 years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer did something shocking that no one could have seen coming, and it changed the show forever. Joss Whedon brought Buffy the Vampire Slayer to television five years after the release of the movie of the same name, which Whedon wrote. The series stars Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers, a teenage girl who moves to Sunnydale, California, with her mother, Joyce (Kristine Sutherland), and continues her career as a vampire slayer after she was expelled from her former high school for burning down a gym full of vampires. The first season sees her meet a new group of friends, known as the Scooby Gang, and fight an evil vampire known as the Master (Mark Metcalf).

However, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 finale sees Buffy learn of the prophecy that a Slayer will die in the battle with the Master. That said, no one expected it to happen until the moment that the Master kills Buffy and breaks the magical barrier holding him captive. In that moment, Buffy the Vampire Slayer killed its main protagonist, and it changed everything.

Buffy Summers’ Death Changed Buffy the Vampire Slayer Forever

When the Master killed Buffy, it was a shocking moment for Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans. The main hero on shows like Buffy rarely dies, and when they do, it is either close to the end of the series or when it plans to move in a different direction. However, Buffy didn’t stay dead for long, but her death changed the show in wild and creative ways. Xander Harris (Nicholas Brendon) and Angel (David Boreanaz) show up and find Buffy dead, so Xander uses CPR to resuscitate her and bring her back to life. She was dead for a short time, so it still fulfilled the prophecy. It also allowed Buffy to return to fight the Master, overpower him, and kill him, closing the Hellmouth.

With that said, the death did something that changed the show for the next six seasons. Buffy technically died, and that not only fulfilled the prophecy, but it also triggered an event that activated the next Slayer. Kendra (Bianca Lawson) showed up in Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 2 as the new Slayer, and unlike Buffy, her parents gave her up, and she spent her entire childhood preparing for her role as a Slayer. She was completely different than Buffy, and the two ended up fighting together for a short time before Drusilla (Juliet Landau) killed Kendra.

Read Next

All 5 Seasons of a Classic Dark Fantasy Spinoff Are Now Streaming Free

While Buffy was back from the dead and was still the main Slayer, Kendra’s death triggered another Slayer’s activation, and that ended up being Faith (Eliza Dushku). Faith became an antagonist and eventual ally on both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and she was instrumental in the fight to stop the Hellmouth from opening in the final season. If it wasn’t for Buffy’s death in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 1 finale, Faith never would have been activated.

Buffy Summers Died More Than Once

Buffy Summers’ death in the Season 1 finale was shocking, but it was undone only minutes later thanks to Xander and CPR. That made the surprise of her death temporary. However, Buffy died again on the show, and this one was more final. It was also more tragic. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Season 5 finale, “The Gift,” Buffy sacrificed her life to save her sister, Dawn, and to prevent the collapse of dimensions. She leaped into a portal of mystical energy and fell to her death. It was the ultimate sacrifice, and it led to Buffy’s greatest gift. She ended up in Heaven.

Sadly, her friends were not willing to let her sacrifice stick. Buffy made it to Heaven, but Willow Rosenberg (Alyson Hannigan) worked with Xander, Tara (Amber Benson), and Anya (Emma Caulfield) to cast a resurrection spell by invoking the Egyptian god Osiris in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6 premiere. It worked, and Buffy rose from the dead. She crawled out of her grave and was traumatized by the fact that she was that close to Heaven and eternal peace, and her friends pulled her back to Earth to keep fighting. Unlike the first season death, this second Buffy the Vampire Slayer death was the most tragic in the entire series.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!